"whatever you rightly say about India, the opposite is also true" is a statement that lives rent free inside my head, most of the times. Read that again. Isn't that statement fascinating, true and paradoxical, all at once?
Indians are highly spiritual yet cruel, always angry yet peaceful, India evokes vasudhaiva kutumbakam yet still casteist, hugely intellectual and philosophical yet stupid and voiceless, and the delight of contradictions goes on. But like an old owl gazing at the night sky reflecting on its life, like the old owl with all its wisdom and flaws, has its own myths and stories that unlock the idea of INDIA for us.
We ache for her wounds, adore her beauty and marvel at its incredible diversity.
INDIA our beloved, the country with whom we have a love-hate relationship.
What better, then to borrow from Rahman's Thai Manne Vanakkam -
It is she our beloved India who nursed and filled us with Life and Peace -
என்னை ஆளாக்கி வளர்த்தாய்..ennai aalaaki valarthai ,
சுக வாழ்வொன்று கொடுத்தாய்..Suga vaazhvondru koduthai ....
There is no time India was perfect. But as we reflect how far the country has come after seventy five years of independence, as it goes through major changes economically, social and political, one feels as though the world once there was, does not exist before your eyes.
As the pleasure of emersion goes by, the question that pops by is -
How do I understand and think about, of this country?
what are my influences and where are the opinions coming from?
why does one take the political and ideological stand that they do, when it is the question of what the nation is ought to be?
Like most of them, My discovery of India is a Work- In- Progress. There are many criteria's under which one could explore the story of India, but given the constraint of words and enormity of the issues, I would want to explore briefly on THREE elements or aspects that I believe should be looked into, with some amount of depth, opinion and perspective as the country steps into its seventy fifth year.
1) The question of abject poverty
2) Curse of casteism and communalism
3) The status of Indian women after 75years of freedom
The Question of abject poverty
when your in twenties, we think we understood the world, other people are idiots, only if the world listens to me it would be a perfect place.. I quietly yelled 'look I know how to fix it'!
But then you read. You pick up on news and affairs. You turn pages after pages, stories after stories everyday and then the pictures of scarcity and desperation stares right into your brain cells and over time you realize, India is a large country of small populations, with brains and stomachs to fill. Then the subject of Economics offers you with the new lenses. Once you wear it, then there is no coming back to the old troops.
Gandhi once said this nation will not rest until it wipes every tear from every eye. Well that may be beyond us, but he asked us to think of the poorest person, the last man in the line when the senses of our privilege and pleasure overwhelms us.
India today is one of the leading economies, first time in her history there are more children in schools and universities than ever before. There is thriving middle class becoming more ambitious with time. India always bounced back in times of doubt and uncertainty. India's economic progress as an adamant, miserable socialist nation to 1991 economic reforms that put food on millions of plates, lifted crores of people out of poverty and gave them dignity and stability that was long over due.
As a hardcore communist and lover of Marx and Nehruvian socialism that I were in the past, I have come to realize FREE MARKETS, no matter how imperfect they are is the only way out to bridge the gap between rich and poor. The question of aggressive capitalism though important in long run should not overwhelm our present trajectory. As long as India can wipe the TEARS, the tears of malnutrition, tears of hunger, tears of unemployment, tears of undignified life, Economic Justice through markets and market driven opportunities are the way forward.
Compassionate capitalism and evidence driven social Welfarism is the path India should advance on, to lift its poor and underprivileged. For India, the ultimate story writing should begin and end with Economic dignity.
Curse of casteism and communalism
What makes us Hindus ? asked a sociology professor-
'practicing caste system' sir said a student!
offended ?
Please be!
On the eve of independence day there is a horrifying news from a school in Rajasthan where a dalit child has been beaten to death for drinking water from a pot that was kept for upper caste students and one can only imagine Babasaheb Ambedkar turning in his grave. The present government and the political party that the PM represents have declared silent war against minority communities they claim should be our enemies. The past wounds are revisited, there is no end to constant communal tensions across the country through out the year. At times horrific news coming out of various parts of the country feels like, we as a society are moving backwards and the communal leaders are keen on projecting people of certain community as second class citizens which in long run, I fear will cause irreplicable damage.
Discrimination of every kind, importantly of caste and religion is a curse hanging on India's neck from ages. Things have changed, but the question is how much and how far? And I'm afraid the answer is still discomforting and dense.
Like it has always bounced back from hatred, there is hope when its citizens realize, Social Justice is the core of every other justice a country wants to build upon. The curse can be tamed if communal politics, communal leaders and communal forces are flushed down the drain from where they came from. And though state of affairs seems grim for now, there is enormous hope in long run. The incredible propaganda and hate that's spreading on our phones and homes needs to be deleted and swept out, for the soul of India to breathe with ease.
The status of Indian women after 75years of freedom
Many glass ceilings have been broken, Indian women are everywhere, one cannot think of a profession or skilled labor, where modern Indian women is absent. Anti- feminist Indian men are angry, they grumble what else do these Indian women need, they have it all?!
Well who will tell them that all she needs is a notion of having something with out the need to ask for it. A village, town, city and the country is built by men and for men. For women in this country, it is a country until 6pm. The vulnerability of being an Indian women is tragedy in itself.
The Great Tamil poet Mahakavi Bharathiyar's poem "MODERN WOMAN" (புதுமைப் பெண்) written somewhere in 1920's, the poet writes a modern Indian women is the one -
"Who Holds her head high with a resolute look;
possessing dauntless courage and wisdom,
She never feels subservient. And she suppresses the routine of living a melancholic life''...
Time has come to redeem his poetry and reflect Bharathiyar's imagination of modern women and ask ourself how many modern woman do we come across, as we witness the brutal patriarchy thrown at women in all walks of life. The day to day struggles and extra layer of consciousness one has to carry as a woman in this country is a reality to confront.
How do we look into the eyes of survivors like Bilkis Banu, and many other victims who have been treated with indignity by state?
Can we look into their eyes and promise that this country will not let them down and wont stop raging, until justice rolls down like a mighty stream unto their feet? If India fails its women, no amount of "progress'' is a story that we can thump our chests on.
India@75
Arundati roy once said - "India lives in several centuries at the same time" and may be this statement comes close to truth. This is why perhaps the country remains a puzzle for everyone trying to understand it. India's incredible diversity may make it impossible to uncover the whole truth about anything in India. But as we explore our freedom since seventy-five years, whatever the word freedom means to you, it is important to understand for those founding fathers and mothers of India, this country the INDIA that we are looking at today was a dream that they waited for all their lives.
At times loving this country is not an easy exercise, the actions of men and women who have crowned themselves with power to decide the fate of this country demand endless energy and patience from its subordinate citizens. At times one gives up, we turn apathetic and indifferent to everything that is wrong with this country. But what is 75 years, for a culture that goes back to thousands of years. This is our home, there will be shame but we can not lose hope and leave, and in doing so we are letting down people who in the past fought to make right what was wrong.
Hope exists because things can change. Hope is rational. Hope is science. Hope is good.
To your India and My India, our stories of this country is incredible.
Changing India is a Marathon, her people are running, the words are scattered all around us, we have to pick it up and run as we experience sentence by sentence, until the story takes shape. And her story should flow like a beautiful stream, forming the gorges of inclusivity, justice and dignity, finally merging towards human flourishing. .
Remembering all the women and men who gave their blood, time and lives.
At their cost, we breathe with ease!
Happy 76th Independence day :)